Hi my name is Deborah and I'm obsessed with reading - can you tell?! I don't think there's anything worse than reading a bad book, so hopefully my reviews will help you avoid doing just that! Thanks for visiting and enjoy reading!

If any of you have read my recent book reviews, you will know that I have recently entered the world of audio books and my latest ‘listen’ is I, Alex Cross by James Patterson. I didn’t think I would ever become a fan of listening to a book being read to me as I like nothing more than picking up a real book, but I am slowly being converted and much of that is thanks to James Patterson.

Why An Audio Book?

The bottom line is that audio books are sometimes just more convenient. I discovered this when trying to manage a cocktail and a book on the beach in Spain earlier this year. But the newest reason I have for listening to audio books is that they fill the long drive to work and mean that I no longer have to listen to endless replays of terrible music on the radio. It also means that I can continue to feed my addiction to books even when it’s not convenient (or legal!) to actually read one.

Why James Patterson?

From my admittedly limited experience of audio books so far, I have realised that there has to be a bit of action in the story in order to keep you listening. Many of the James Patterson audio books are read by more than one person and have added sound effects so it is like you are listening to a film almost. There is plenty going on and his written books in general are quite fast paced and have plenty of twists and turns, making them ideal audio book material.

What’s I, Alex Cross About?

Alex Cross is Patterson’s most famous and longest running character. He is a police officer of great standing in Washington D.C. and is often called upon in high profile cases. I, Alex Cross is the latest in the series and features the familiar character solving yet another ‘unsolvable’ case. This time Alex is dragged away from a family celebration to be told that his niece has been brutally murdered. It soon becomes clear that the Washington Police are dealing with a serial killer and that the killer is extremely well connected and, even worse, well protected.

Cross is facing his toughest case yet and finds himself in a world that you can only imagine and fighting against Washington’s highest movers and shakers. He has a personal interest in the case and will stop at nothing to get a result.

Boy Meets Girl is the second book I've read by American author Meg Cabot, who is most famous for writing the 'Princess Diary' books that were made into popular films by Disney. Cabot is most well-known for her books for children and teens, although this new foray into the world of adult fiction is a successful one in my opinion.

This book is part of a series, although you don't have to read the books in order to enjoy them as it is more of a case that you will recognise the odd character from other books and the setting is the same, although the actual stories in the different books are otherwise independent from each other.

Kate MacKenzie works in the human resources department of the fictional New York Journal magazine. She is, as the blurb describes her, 'reluctant deliverer of termination notices and queen of instant messaging'. Ida Lopez is the creator of the most delightful cakes which she sells to the employees of the New York Journal by means of a dessert trolley, although she has her own very exacting standards of who is worthy of her treats. Mitch Hertzog is a corporate lawyer who is forever the saviour of the underdog, shunning a life of family wealth to make a difference to those less fortunate. When Ida decides that Mitch's tyrant brother is undeserving of her cakes, all hell breaks loose and Kate, Mitch and Ida must work together against the tyrants and the nepotism to find the truth.

I know how much everyone loves a competition and although it's not book related, I have a great one for you to enter here. You can win this fabulous pair of earrings just by entering Moon-Jewellery's simple competition.

Moon-Jewellery is my family's fantastic new venture and is a great place to buy (and win!) stunning hand made jewellery, including earrings and charm bracelets, for great prices.

All of their pieces are made from quality semi precious stones and make ideal gifts.

I know this is turning into a bit of an advert, but I'm very excited and I think you'll agree that there are some great items available!

Don't worry - I'll be back to reviewing books soon, but I didn't want you to miss out on this opportunity, so don't forget to enter!

Blind Fury is the latest bestseller from queen of the thriller Lynda La Plante. La Plante is probably most famous for her various books that have been adapted into highly successful television series, including Prime Suspect and Trial and Retribution. Blind Fury is the next instalment in the series featuring Anna Travis, a police detective who is to English thriller writing, what James Patterson’s Alex Cross is to American thriller writing.

This time Anna Travis is enlisted to uncover the mystery of a young woman who is found brutally murdered and dumped at the perimeter of a motorway service station. In trying to discover the identity of the woman, they hit a series of brick walls that leads to high tension, frustration and, most disturbingly, more bodies. Just when the case looks like it might be becoming cold, Anna gets a message from a former nemesis; Cameron Welsh. Anna helped put Welsh behind bars, but now he insists that he can help and he will only speak to her. Much as she wants nothing to do with Welsh, Anna must put her feelings to one side in order to solve a murder, but it soon emerges that Welsh’s help comes at a high price.

Meg Cabot (whose surname apparently, and strangely, rhymes with 'habit') is a hugely successful American author of Young Adult fiction. The most famous of her books are undoubtedly 'The Princess Diaries' that were made into popular films by Disney. The Guy Next Door is Cabot's first venture into the world of writing for adults in the chick-lit genre (although it's wrongly listed here on Ciao under 'children's books') and is a fairly good, and very unusual, effort.

Melissa Fuller is a gossip columnist for the New York Journal who is on the verge of losing her job as she is late for the thirty-seventh time this year. Human resources have already been through the motions of politely informing her that it is her duty to be at work on time and her boss is getting more than a little tired of her tardiness. But, this time, Melissa has a legitimate reason for arriving late; her elderly neighbour has been attacked and Melissa has escorted her to the hospital where she lies in a coma. Even worse, the neighbour has left behind her Great Dane Paco, of whom Melissa feels obliged to take temporary responsibility. She soon realises that it is just too much for her and decides to track down her neighbour's only relative, her nephew Max, and that is when the trouble begins!

I have only recently ventured into the world of audio books and my only experience before this one was limited to Stephen Fry’s (excellent) telling of the Harry Potter series. I thoroughly enjoyed it, so thought the next step would be to try one of my other favourite authors; James Patterson. I had some trepidation about whether or not I would enjoy it, because James Patterson’s books, as you will know, are completely different to the light-hearted children’s books of J K Rowling and so I wasn’t sure whether they would work as well. I needn’t have been worried though, because Alex Cross’s Trial made an excellent choice for an audio book.

Trial is Alex Cross’s account of a lawyer, Ben Corbett, who fights against oppression and racism in the early twentieth century. He is sent from Washington DC by none other than Theodore Roosevelt to investigate the rumoured lynchings of black people in his hometown, with the help of Abraham Cross and his daughter. He immediately finds his own life threatened by the very people that he grew up with and he soon becomes determined to do the impossible – make a difference in a town that violently resists change.

When considering this story and in this format, I find it hard not to draw comparisons with the Harry Potter series; whilst I’m fully aware that they are an entirely different style, genre and story, it was never-the-less a shock to hear a drawling Deep South accent telling the story rather than the rather prim and proper English voice of Fry. It did take a while to get used to it and I had to listen to the first chapter a couple of times so that I could focus on the story rather than who was saying it, but the voice became familiar and likeable very quickly.

I'm still really enjoying all the challenges I'm taking part in and I thought I'd update you to where I'm at and give you the links for if you want to join in:

I've added the following to my 'already read' pile:

Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
(Ok, so it's not the first time I've read these three, but it still counts!)
Hedge Fund Wives by Tatiana Boncompagni (review to follow)
Silent Scream by Lynda La Plante (See my review here)
The Best Laid Plans by Sydney Sheldon
It Had To Be You by Sarah Webbe (See my review here)

I am more than a little fond of reading thriller books, so it comes as a surprise that I have never read anything by Lynda La Plante who, according to one critic, ‘practically invented the thriller’. I have seen a number of the TV programmes that have been based on her books including the hugely popular Prime Suspect and Trial and Retribution series’ and have thoroughly enjoyed them, but I have never quite got round to reading her work. So it was with a little excitement that I gratefully received her newest offering Silent Scream, from publishers Simon and Schuster.

Silent Scream is the latest in the series of books that follows Detective Anna Travis as she works on various murder cases. In this one, an up and coming young movie star, Amanda Delaney, is brutally murdered in her own home. During the investigation, it becomes clear that Amanda has lead a terribly troubled life which included childhood abuse, eating disorders and a string of sordid affairs. Detective Anna Travis soon discovers that Amanda was planning to publish her no holds barred memoirs, which meant that there was a long list of people who would have a motive to murder.

Sarah Webb is an Irish author responsible for many offerings in the world of chick-lit, including Always the Bridesmaid and Some Kind of Wonderful. I have read a few of her previous works with mixed reactions – she writes the stories with passion for her characters, but I’ve found that some of her novels take a little while to get into.

It had To Be You is the story of three woman from the small Irish village of Burnaby. Molly works in the local bookshop ‘Happily Ever After’, but has her own aspirations of writing a bestselling novel – something that will never happen if she continues to keep her work a secret. Molly’s best friend Paige is running as an independent candidate in the local elections. She is well on the way to fulfilling a lifelong ambition, but can she juggle a young and demanding family with her work, especially when a fellow candidate is out to sabotage her every move. Kate is Molly’s new housemate, she’s a nice enough girl but obviously has a lot of baggage that she refuses to talk about. Will the latest client for her dating service prove to be the answer to all her problems or is he just too much for her?

Sarah Webb is an Irish writer who has a string of ‘chick-lit’ books to her name. I’ve read a few of her books before and I enjoy the easy reading and fun nature of them. They are a great accompaniment to a nice relax on a sun lounger, with a glass of something alcoholic and a view of everlasting sea.

Always The Bridesmaid is one of her older novels, published back in 2003, but I stumbled across it in the ‘3 for £5’ section of The Works the other day. It’s available on Amazon for around £4, if you don’t have The Works near you.

Amy is a bit down in the dumps to say the least. She has spilt up with her fiancé and is still at the stage where friends and family tip-toe around, tilt their heads sympathetically when they talk to you and you doubt your own choices in love, life and everything else. When she finds out that, what is supposed to be, her best friend has jumped into the arms (and bed) of her ex, Amy hits rock bottom. To make it worse, her little sister has just come back from Australia with a tanned and fit rugby player with impossibly perfect teeth and a rock on her finger, and her remaining best friend’s long term boyfriend has decided to make an honest woman of her too.

Frustrated with her inability to make good of her long held dreams of becoming a children’s presenter, mournfully sad that she is surrounded by talk of wedding cakes, dresses and decorations and down right miserable that she will have to be bridesmaid twice, Amy quickly becomes a nightmare to be around. Will anything pull her out of this bad snap? Is she ever going to find her night in shining armour? Or will she have to come to terms with the fact that she will, for eternity, be Always The Bridesmaid?

Tagged as his ‘most shocking and seductive story yet’ Swimsuit is the latest stand alone book from the ‘world’s best thriller writer’ James Patterson. Co-written by Maxine Paetro (who also co-wrote many of the books in Patterson’s Women’s Murder Club series) Swimsuit is a story that combines breathtaking beauty with untold horrors.

Kim McDaniels is one of the world’s most beautiful supermodels and she as the top of her game, that is until a psychopathic killer abducts her from her latest shoot at the most glamorous hotel in Hawaii. A terrifying phone call to her parents begins the hunt her and cop turned reporter Ben Hawkins is assigned the story. Unable to let his past go and faced with severe ineptitude on the part of the local police force, Ben begins his own investigation into what quickly turns from a missing person case to a murder inquiry. Ben soon becomes completely and utterly involved in the case and is confronted by a psychopathic killer who has no morals and takes great pride in setting the stage for his next killing.

8th confession is the eighth book in James Patterson’s Women’s Murder Club series. The series features a group of women who are successful in a man’s world and who have formed a close bond in the most difficult of circumstances. The main character is Lindsay Boxer, a detective in the San Francisco Police Department and her best friends are: Claire Washburn, the city’s chief medical examiner; Cindy Thomas, hot reporter for the city’s newspaper; and Yuki Castellano, a state prosecutor.

8th Confession sees the club pitted against a brutal killer who is stalking the rich and famous. Lindsay is under pressure because the SFPD is bottom of the league for unsolved murders and the newest victims are all high profile people with families that have plenty of clout in the city. Aside from this, reporter Cindy stumbles across a less high profile, but arguably more interesting case when the local homeless hero Jesus Bagman is found brutally executed. Both of the women need their friends to help them solve these equally disturbing cases, but can they pull together at the crucial moment or are their own personal agendas going to tear the group apart?

I couldn’t put this book down. It is James Patterson at his page turning, edge of your seat best. That is not to say the book was perfect, because there were a few things that I found irritating about the book, but none of these things was big enough to hamper my overall enjoyment of the story.

I'm a such a big fan of James Patterson's books, so I was delighted when I stumbled across this challenge this morning, hosted by Socrates Book Reviews. The challenge is simple - read ten James Patterson books this year. The year actually started on August 15th, so I'm starting a little late - but since I got three James Patterson books for my birthday, I think I should be able to manage it! If you want to join in the fun, just click the link above to sign up! Happy reading!

Ella Buchan is the make-up artist on the next Hollywood blockbuster and she has been tasked with making up the alarmingly handsome, yet out of control, star’s face. Rory Defoe is the typical Hollywood bad boy – he’s arrogant, rude and selfish – and he has the power and the stupidity to ruin the film before it even gets to the cinema. Ella is tired of meeting people like Rory and she’s forced to spend hours each day pandering to his every need, she certainly doesn’t want to get to know him any better.

But the director of the film has other ideas – Ella is apparently the only one who can save the film from total meltdown and she, more than a little begrudgingly, steps in to ‘save the day’. Can a mere make-up artist really stop the impending disaster and does she really know what she’s let herself in for?

This is a great challenge that is being hosted by J. Kaye at Home Girl's Book Blog. Basically what you have to do (you guessed it!) is read 100 or more books this year. After a bit of a lull, I've picked up the pace on this reading challenge and have read another four books in the last ten days:

Freya North is a London based author who writes romantic fiction. She gave up a Ph.D. course in 1991 to write her first novel, much to the consternation of her family and with little success. In 1995 she decided to ‘go for it’ and sent the first three chapters of her book, along with a page of totally invented reviews, to some of the countries top publishers who then entered a bidding war for her work. The rest, as they say is history! Home Truths is North’s 8th novel and it led to Heat magazine commenting that ‘Freya North manages to strike a good balance between drama, comedy and romance, and has penned another winner in Home Truths . . . touching and enjoyable’.

Django McCabe and his three nieces, Pip, Fen and Cat, form a somewhat unconventional family, but one that is fiercely loyal and indescribably close. Until, that is, a stranger comes along to Django’s 75th birthday celebrations and turns their world completely upside down. Throughout their lives and their many ups and downs, the family have been able to rely on each other to help them through, but is this one hurdle too far? Can the family that has been left reeling by a massive revelation ever possibly be the same again?

‘I Heart Hollywood’ is the second instalment of Lindsey Kelk’s series about Angela Clark. In the previous novel ‘I Heart New York’, Angela had fled her English life after finding her ex-boyfriend in a very compromising position at her best friend’s wedding. Her out-of-character decision found her jobless and friendless in New York.

Fast forward to this story and Angela can’t believe her luck – she has the dream job and a gorgeous boyfriend and all is looking rosy. Then, it seems, her luck is getting even better when her boss sends her to interview the hottest Brit actor around, James Jacobs, in Hollywood. Angela is all set for a fabulous fortnight of shopping, sunbathing and working with the rich and famous and takes her American best friend with her to enjoy the fun. What could possibly go wrong?

It seems ladykiller James Jacobs, whilst charming and charismatic, has a bit of a secret that must be upheld or he’ll face career devastation. He, along with his PR army, will do anything to keep his secret and they don’t care who they take down and Angela finds herself in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. Can she possibly save her job, her relationship and her friendship with her best friend all at the same time?

Jonathan Kellermen is a criminal psychologist by trade and he has now brought his expertise to the world of thriller writing. He has already established himself as one of the world’s most popular authors with a string of bestselling novels, a smattering of prestigious awards and number of non-fiction works to his name. His most popular series is the one featuring Alex Delaware, of which The Web is the latest instalment.

Alex Delaware and his wife are desperate to escape the violence of Los Angeles and recover from a harrowing ordeal and it seems that the mysterious Dr William Moreland is offering them the perfect solution. Out of the blue he invites them to his tiny Micronesian community, Knife Island, to help him record the masses of information he has gathered from his years of looking after the physical and mental wellbeing of the island’s inhabitants.

Very quickly though, it appears that Knife Island isn’t the perfect piece of paradise that the Delaware’s were hoping for as one of the inhabitants is brutally murdered. Rather reluctantly, Alex is thrown into a grotesque web of intrigue that seems to prove that all, including Moreland himself, is not what it seems.

Jenn over at Crazy For Books has started a fun new weekly meme called Book Blogger Hop, which is a fun way of finding like-minded book bloggers that you may have missed.

In her own words:

Every day I seem to find another book blog that I start following. In the spirit of the Friday Follow, I thought it would be cool to do a Book Blog Hop to give us all bookies a chance to connect and find new blogs that we may be missing out on! It will also give blog readers a chance to find other book blogs that they may not know existed!So, if you'd like to participate, just repost this on your blog, sign MckLinky below, and check out other blogs in MckLinky! Let's connect and make new book bloggy friends!! So, if you consider yourself a book blogger, come join the fun!Pretty please - Your blog should have content related to books, including, but not limited to book reviews.

So if it sounds like your kind of thing, head over to her page and join!!

The world’s best selling thriller writer is back and this time he has opened the ‘ultimate cold case’ – the unsolved death of Tutankhamen. This time writing alongside Martin Dugard, James Patterson is taking his inimitable style of page turning suspense to the mystery that has stumped Egyptologists the world over.

Tutankhamen was thrust onto the throne at a very early age, much to the dismay of many powerful Egyptians at the time, and his reign was a massive controversy from the very beginning. But that controversy became an even bigger one when he suddenly, and inexplicably, died after just nine years at the throne.

The Murder of King Tut is an intriguing and fascinating look at the life and death of the notorious king. The authors flit quickly between modern day America, ancient Egypt and the life of Howard Carter to bring us a completely engrossing true life story. Patterson and Dugard have done their homework and both quite clearly have a real passion for the subject matter which is reflected in their story telling.

‘They found Texas judge Whit Mosley’s missing friends at Black Jack Point, dead and buried along with relics and bones from a legendary past. Whit opens an inquest into the murders, and is plunge into a shadowy world of ruthless treasure-hunters and double-crossing tycoons – all chasing a long-lost fortune in emeralds and gold.’

This is the premise of Jeff Abbott’s Black Jack Point, a tale which sounds like it’s come from the writer’s of the latest Disney movie, but that has somehow got lost along the way. I wasn’t sold on the idea of pirates and hidden treasure, but I have read and enjoyed several of Abbott’s previous novels (including Panic and Fear) so I thought I’d give this one a go. I’m undecided over it really. The story is full of the page turning twists and turns that you want from a suspense / thriller novel, but it just didn’t grip me quite as much as I wanted it to.

I've joined up to the Thriller Suspense Challenge hosted by Book Chick City and I can't wait - I love thrillers and I think I'll probably end up reading more than the 12 in a year that makes the challenge!

Pop Tart is the debut novel from Kira Coplin and Julianne Kaye, two American ladies who have close ties to the glamorous world of celebrity. The former is a contributor to popular magazines and the latter a successful professional make-up artist, so it probably seemed obvious to them that they should write a novel that combined both their skill sets.

The resulting tale is of a young girl, Jackie O’Reilly, who has a short attention span and a big desire to find her calling in life. She drops out of her college course to become a professional make-up artist. After a very lucky break she gets the opportunity to travel with the ‘next big thing’ in the American popular culture scene; teen sensation Brooke Parker.

Catherine Sanderson is a thirty-something Brit who fell in love with France whilst she was at school and moved to Paris more than ten years ago. In July 2004, she discovered the world of blogging on the internet and her pseudonym Petite Anglaise was born. She wrote about her own daily trials and tribulations on her blog and it soon became a massive internet hit, with thousands of regular readers and rave reviews in the national newspapers.

Petite Anglaise the book was published in hard back in 2008, although it is the paperback edition (published by Penguin Books in February 2009) that I'm reviewing he

re. The book is ultimately a summarisation of Petite Anglaise's blog so far and, as such, is Catherine Sanderson's true story.

Travel and reading are my passions, so books like this are a winner every time with me. This is a fascinating story about a man who is on the verge of losing his home and girlfriend, when he decides to trade from 'One Red Paperclip' to a house, in a year, based on a game he attempted to play when he was a child. He travels around Canada and America, making trades and quickly becomes famous in the meantime. The game is called 'bigger and better' and you basically take one item (in this case the red paperclip) and contiually trade it up for something bigger and better.